Summer 2013 Episode Rankings – Week 3

Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku didn’t air on the 19th… was it something I said? 😛 Anyway, since it still aired before Gatchaman Crowds, I figured I’d throw it in with the other third episodes. Just means it’s gone from being one of the first episodes I watch and rank each week to being one of the last. Whether or not that will affect its score remains to be seen~

Genshiken Nidaime celebrates a third week on top… does that make it Genshiken x AngryJellyfish?

The third episode of Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi contained a number of surprises. I assumed Hampnie Hambart would be a major character in the series, with the previous episode introducing his old friend and current enemy Yuri, and revealing that he was in fact immortal! And possibly on a quest to find a way to end his life? An interesting plot for a series, I though, reminiscent of Mermaid Forest… so I was more than a little surprised when they killed him off this week. On the one hand, his death would likely have had more impact if he’d stuck around a bit longer, and if his back story wasn’t quite so rushed, but the shock factor coupled with the sad ending scenes with Ai left me feeling it was a good ep overall. Glad he was able to leave her with some memories of her father besides pointing guns at her head or kicking her off of bridges, at least. 😛

The five character cast of Love Lab is finally fully assembled! Disgraced former student council president Yuiko and her accomplice (and by far the best character IMO) Sayori put their plan to reclaim their positions into action, by mixing in the details of the council’s ‘Love Lessons’ in with the handouts for committee meeting, only for Yuiko to later change her mind, and try to recover the papers. Unfortunately, due to a mix-up they still got passed out to all the committee chairs… and drama ensued. Pretty serious stuff for a series that had been focused purely on comedy until that point. Fortunately for the characters, Sayori’s quick thinking solved the problem, and they all made up. Unfortunately for the show, the comedy still isn’t making me laugh much, so if the drama and rivalry is all over and done with, I may lose interest fast.

Jinbe had to go and jinx her…

Moving down:

After a weak start last season, Mushibugyou had climbed up my rankings considerably by the end of Spring. Now that summer is underway, however, it has dropped right back down again. The new ‘Mushibito’ arc isn’t fantastic so far – while there’s some interesting things going on in the background (e.g. insect-man Sanada Yukimura, and his request for a giant ship to be built in Kishuu), for the moment the main focus has been on Jinbe’s usual hyperactive and happy-go-lucky antics, coupled with some ‘monster-of-the-week’ battles against Yukimura’s underlings.

Blood Lad may not have dropped that much, but that’s only because it can’t go any lower. I’ll be honest, I mainly picked it up because I missed Hataraku Maou-sama!, and the two series share a lot of similar themes (both are action/comedy anime featuring demon lords obsessed with the human world, for starters). But, they also have their differences. Most notably, the fact that Hataraku Maou-sama! was actually funny, and had a decent animation budget. Blood Lad looks awful in comparison, the characters aren’t as likeable (yet), and it didn’t get many laughs from me this week either. Definitely in danger of being dropped mid-season.

Blood Lad and Hataraku Maou-sama! also both feature big breasted human schoolgirl love interests… though again, Chiho had twice the personality of Fuyumi.

General comments:

I honestly don’t know what to make of Uchouten Kazoku. As with RDG, I feel as though P.A. Works has sucked me in with the promise of nice animation, character designs, and Japanese folklore in a present day setting. Also traps. But three eps in and I’m also getting the same negative thoughts I had about RDG – while there’s a lot of dialogue and character development, is it actually entertaining? Will I even understand what’s going on in 4 – 5 episodes time? I’m more than happy to give it a chance for now, because it looks and sounds great, and at least has more potential than a comedy series that isn’t funny.

Benten is an intriguing character… can’t say I like her that much so far, however.